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Extant Middle Pleistocene first appearances

  • African buffaloThe African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) spreads across disconnected ranges from Senegal to South Africa, yet five distinct subspecies define its existence.
  • European badgerCarl Linnaeus named the European badger Ursus meles in 1758 within his work Systema Naturae. The species likely evolved from the Chinese Meles thorali during…
  • WolfIn 1758, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus published Systema Naturae and listed the wolf as Canis lupus. He classified the domestic dog as a separate…
  • Brown bearCarl Linnaeus scientifically described the species under the name Ursus arctos in the 1758 edition of Systema Naturae. Brown bear taxonomy and subspecies…
  • CougarThe word cougar comes from the Portuguese term çuçuarana, which itself traces back to the Tupi language of Brazil. In 1648, Willem Piso published a rendering…
  • HumanIn 2015, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarians worldwide. This number represents a tiny fraction of the global population…